Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Calgary Sun's Eric Francis discusses the curious case of Jarome Iginla in a Sunday column pondering the former Flames captain's post-Pittsburgh options. Francis believes that Iginla can in fact continue his quest to capture a Stanley Cup if the soon-to-be-36-year-old takes way, way less than the $7 million he theoretically earned this past season (he received 48 games thereof), despite the fact that Iginla is still the equivalent of a 60-point-scorer...

In no small part because the vast majority of the teams in position to compete for the Stanley Cup find themselves facing a salary cap crunch (with re-signing players likely to gobble up their cap room) as the "upper limit" drops from $70.2 million to $64.3 million.

As such, Francis believes that Iginla will have to at least halve his salary demands to latch on with Los Angeles, Chicago, Anaheim, St. Louis, Vancouver or even Detroit:

Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi has long coveted Iginla, but while Darryl Sutter has a long history with his former captain in Calgary, the head coach also knows Iginla doesn’t play the style of game in demand at this time of year.

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The Kings are yet another team that will struggle to stay under the reduced cap of $64.3 million, as 10 players need new deals. Unless, of course, Iginla is willing … well … you get the idea.

As far as other contenders Iginla may be interested in joining, Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock saw first-hand what Iginla is capable of at the Olympic level and may ask Iginla to bring his discounted services to Motown.

The Anaheim Ducks might be a nice fit, especially if second-line right-winger Teemu Selanne chooses to retire, as the Ducks have more cap room than most.

All the cornerstones of the cap-strapped San Jose Sharks are one year from free agency, which might work if Iginla agreed to a cheap one-year deal.

One of the most intriguing possibilities is with the St. Louis Blues, with whom there’s cap space and a relative void on the right side. But how he’d fare in Ken Hitchcock’s defence-first system is questionable.